80 Days in Office with Public Support

(Gosaye Feyissa: ENA) On Saturday June 23rd millions of residents of Addis Ababa and regional towns converged on the city’s Meskel Square similar to a human wave flooding the square from every direction. On that particular day it seems that all roads within and outside Addis converge to Meskel Square, the city’s largest gathering area. The crowd converged on Meskel Square from six directions; Bole, Saris, Megenagna, Piazza, Mexico and Arat Kilo. Millions of Ethiopians flooded the Square as early as 6:00am to show their support to Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and thank him for the reform he has brought in a couple of months. Around 8:00am, Meskel Square was full of a crowd hoisting their own version of Ethiopian tricolor with their traditional outfits. Majority of the youth who attended the rally attired with colorful T-shirt depicting pictures of the Prime Minister were singing different songs and saying words of support. They were holding a myriad of placards that preach about love, forgiveness and unity. Despite the presence of millions, in a relatively small Square, everybody was treating each other with respect and mutual acceptance. They were heralding the importance of unity in the most unprecedented way. At 9:00am, Prime Minister Abiy emerged on the stage wearing a cap and a green t-shirt printed with a photo of Nelson Mandella. He couldn’t take a seat before he greeted the audience by raising his arms and bowed down his head expressing his humility to the public and showing a heartfelt respect for his people. The demonstrators responded his greeting with warm welcome. The crowd that took to the Square with the motto of ‘we support you” gave an adorable beauty to the City of Addis Ababa which engulfed the entire population. When he started talking, everybody from all corners was hearing attentively and with passion. Silence is being in place, people were busy recoding his speech and picture. The PM started his speech with the saying that he usually used in the end of his speech with enthusiasm “May God bless Ethiopia and its people’. In his speech Abiy as always emphasized love, forgiveness, reconciliation and unity, while denouncing hate and division. He said, “Before all things, “I am touched and felt happy to see when all Ethiopians stand together for love, forgiveness and unity in such a panoramic fashion”. “Hatred has plunged us into bankruptcy and had degraded us”, he said. “Nobody who has started the journey with love and unity ever failed to succeed, today’s love and thanksgiving day displayed that the first founding block that would help us to reach at the apex”, the premier added. As usual, he continued to captivate the entire audience and public who also watch the event by live stream though the local mainstream media and online live transmission. What Makes the Premier Popular?  Eighty days have elapsed since Prime Minister Abiy Ahimed took office. In his inaugural speech he made at the House of Peoples’ Representatives, Abiy promised to bring change in various areas. Abiy has come to the post of the Premiership in a very critical time in which, the country has engulfed with civil disobedience and ethnic based conflicts that affect the stability of the country. The hard currency reserve of the country that reached at its lowest level, which in turn has already started to affect the economy, is also another challenge that the PM need to address. As a new Prime Minister, Abiy didn’t take any more time to reshuffle his cabinet. He has been taking various measures in political, economic and social sectors in line with the resolutions of EPRDF, which brought a glimpse of hope to all Ethiopians and Ethiopian nationals living abroad. Of all the reform he has brought, the change in perspective regarding love, reconciliation and unity and measures taken in this regard are the major things that catches the attention of Ethiopians. He started to travel to almost all parts of the country previously known for their restiveness and held discussion with communities in order to know their grievances. In all the places he visit and in all public meetings, Abiy advocates peace and togetherness and promises change. Visiting places where ethnic based conflicts were occurred and discussed with the respective communities so as to resolve the situation and encourage reconciliation was also among the activities he carried out over the past two months, which is a new culture for Ethiopians. During his visit to foreign countries, Abiy has managed to raise the issue of Ethiopians who are in prison in those countries to the respective leaders. His effort has bear fruit and thousands of Ethiopians who have been detained in Djibouti, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and Saudi Arabia has released – another new thing for Ethiopians who believed that their government has already forgotten them. Abiy, who has been promoting love, forgiveness, reconciliation and unity among Ethiopians, called on the opposition to work together in order to widen the political space, which helped him to gain a huge acceptance from the public. The release of prisoners who have been detained in various cases including bloggers, politicians and others accused of terrorism has brought him fame. Major Achievements  In his inaugural speech at the HPR Abiy demonstrated the deep desire of his government to allow opposition parties operate freely and create a conducive and fair ground for their operation, and called upon them to comeback and struggle peacefully. Prime Minister Abiy repeatedly invited political parties sheltered in various countries to come home and operate peacefully as well as engage in nation building. Following the request of government, the leaders of Oromo Democratic Front (ODF), which was labeled as a terrorist organization by law, returned home after 25 years. Similarly, an exile political party, United Front for Independent Oromia (UFIO) which headed by Brig. General Kemal Gelchu has sent a delegation to Addis Ababa to discuss on how to take part in the country's political activities peacefully. The Premier has also become victories again as his call for the Eritrean government to normalize the relationship between the two countries has accepted by President Esayas Afeworki. The Eritrean government, that ignores a similar call from former Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, has sent its high-level delegation to Addis Ababa. Reforms in economic sectors including plans to sell stakes of giant public companies are among the major reforms brought after Abiy took office. According to the plan, some of the companies that have been under state control, including telecommunications, airlines, power, shipping and logistics will be open to investors. Ethiopians believe that the reform that has been brought so far need to be appreciated and the Prime Minister need to be supported in order to sustain the reform. The people on Saturday showed the Prime Minister that they are with him in the pursuit of love, reconciliation and unity, which Abiy said is the only way for Ethiopia to return to its former glory.